For the least of my brethren: Caring for creation in Malawi, Africa

Friday, Oct. 02, 2015

The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Oct. 4, typically is a day to reflect on our Catholic call to care for creation. This year it is also Respect Life Sunday, when we begin our year-long campaign in support of the dignity and sanctity of life. The clear connection between these two components of our faith recently was powerfully illustrated for me thanks to the generosity and great work of Catholic Relief Services, which is the international humanitarian agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. With the financial backing of CRS, and a small contribution from the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I and a member of the Diocesan Peace and Justice Commission traveled with five other American delegates to Malawi, where we met Mrs. Ellison Nyrirenda and Mr. Yona Dankeni and learned how the sanctity and dignity of their lives, and many others, have been protected from the devastating blows of climate change. 

Mrs. Nyrirenda is a widow with five young boys living in Msosa Village, Malawi. Her youngest son has a disability that makes it extremely difficult to eat, leaving him too weak to walk. When our delegation of seven American Catholics met Mrs. Nyrirenda, she was carrying the boy in the same manner as so many of the infants we had seen throughout our journey – wrapped close to her body using a colorful cloth. But her son is not an infant. Though he is only the size of a baby, he is 2 ½ years old. Despite the challenges of being mom to five boys, including one requiring special attention, Mrs. Nyrirenda graciously welcomed us and shared her story of loss and of hope.

In January 2015, Mrs. Nyrirenda’s house was washed away by severe flooding. Her one-room mud brick home was no match for the unexpected river of water that rampaged through the village, taking many houses, crops, livestock and human lives with it. While the village is used to heavy rains, the amount of water that inundated it in January was unprecedented – climate change in action, and in an area ill-equipped to handle the impacts.  

Mrs. Nyrirenda and her neighbors across the flooded areas live in one of the poorest countries in the world. None of them have the resources to pick up their families and move. And so, Mrs. Nyrirenda and others rebuilt their homes with the aid of our Catholic Church. 

Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM) are helping villagers build houses with higher foundations, stronger mortar, and roof hips that cover more of the walls, which prevent driving rains from pulverizing the mud bricks. The villagers must make or buy the bricks for their homes, but CRS provides the technical assistance and helps pay for roofing materials, windows, doors and sturdy support beams. Through these simple changes in design, CRS and CADECOM helped Mrs. Nyrirenda build a new home for her family that should withstand future flooding, providing her with some peace of mind so she can focus on the health of her boys.

 Similarly, in the village of Mwalija, farmers are learning to adapt to the realities of growing crops following a devastating flood. They were already struggling after the rainy season started late, but then most of their crops were wiped out by the heavy flood waters, buried under feet of fine silt left behind by the raging river.  

Faced with starvation if they didn’t find a way to plant edible crops so late in the season, Yona Dankeni and his wife worked with CRS’ United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations (UBALE) project to obtain seeds and develop new ways to grow plants in the sand. The solution is simple, but life saving: Dankeni dug pits through the layers of sand to plant pumpkin, maize, and other vegetables in the fertile soil buried far below.  

Dankeni is a lead farmer in the project, teaching 25 others in the area the same techniques to ensure the village is able to feed its people and protect lives from starvation and malnourishment.

Our American delegation was privileged to see many other programs addressing the dignity and sanctity of life in Malawi. I will share more of these stories in future columns, but on the Feast of St. Francis and the start of our Respect Life campaign, I hope Utah Catholics will celebrate and support the works of our church through CRS. We are all CRS as it addresses the impacts of climate change and care for God’s creation in order to protect the dignity and sanctity of life.